Saturday, June 06, 2009

Welcome to How to Cook Something, where I feature a recipe from my favorite beginner's cookbook, How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman, in an effort to learn my way around the kitchen. Today's lesson is Quick and Easy Waffles. I've actually made these a lot since I started cooking, but somehow I've never blogged about them! These waffles made me want to chuck my box of Bisquick out the window and never look back. This is one case where homemade from scratch is about the same amount of effort, but an infinitely better result than using a boxed mix.

I had blueberries left over from last week's bread pudding, and I was faced with the harrowing decision of whether to fold them into the waffle batter or make a sauce. As you can tell, the sauce won, and it was hands-down the right decision. After a quick trip to Food Blog Search, I used Joy the Baker's recipe as a jumping off point.

I'm going to get a little deep for a second, so bear with me. I woke up today feeling excited to get into the kitchen and MAKE breakfast. This is new and very different... usually I'm excited to get into the kitchen so I can EAT breakfast. But more and more, I find myself enjoying the making part just as much as the eating part. I've always wanted to achieve this state of mind, and now that I'm here, I'm a happy girl.

2. Combine the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, beat eggs and stir in milk. Stir in butter and vanilla. (Amy's note: my butter is almost never cool at this point. It gets hard, chunky, and gross-looking when I add it in. The waffles still come out perfectly). Stir the wet into the dry ingredients. If the mixture seems too thick to pour, add a little more milk.

3. Using a measuring cup, pour 1/2 c. of batter onto the hot waffle iron. Bake until the waffle is done, usually 3-5 minutes, depending on your iron. Repeat with the rest of the batter. While the rest are cooking, keep the finished ones warm in a low oven.

Heat the blueberries and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. The berries will break down and release their juices as they cook. After 10 minutes, combine cornstarch and water, and stir into blueberry mixture. Stir constantly for 20-30 seconds or until the mixture is noticeably thickened. Remove from heat and enjoy!